Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer

Lynne Abraham, former district attorney, said she would soon announce her candidacy for mayor of Philadelphia.

Now we know when, as Abraham Thursday announced the announcement: High noon, next Wednesday, at the Franklin Institute. Specifically in the Karobots Paviliion, underneath the Shimmer Wall.

Abraham will be the third mayoral wannabe to make an official announcement of candidacy. First was Terry Gillen, a key aide in the Nutter administration. Second was Ken Trujillo, a former city solicitor.

The race for Pennsylvania governor has tightened a smidgen entering the final six days, with Democrat Tom Wolf still enjoying a 13-percentage-point lead over Gov. Tom Corbett (R) among likely voters, according to a Franklin & Marshall College Poll released Wednesday.

Wolf has the support of 53 percent of voters who said they are very interested in the race and certain to vote, to 40 percent for Corbett, the poll found. Five percent said they “don’t know” whom they will back next Tuesday.

Disaffected Republicans are “coming home” and coalescing around Corbett, a month-to-month comparison of F&M polls shows. His job-approval among GOP voters increased from 39 percent in August to 56 percent in this latest survey. The percentage of Republicans saying Corbett deserved a second term increased from 46 percent to 63 percent over the same period.

Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer

Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett’s support for a controversial 2012 bill requiring women to have an ultrasound before an abortion continues to dog him: “You just have to close your eyes.”

On Tuesday, a “tracker” from the Democratic PAC Fresh Start caught the Republican governor on tape denying he’d ever backed the legislation, designed to discourage abortions with images of the developing fetus.

“I never did,” he said, when asked if he still supports the idea. “I didn’t sign the bill.”

Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer

You’re a Republican governor and you don’t have a black woman handy to pose standing next to you for a picture on your campaign website?

Not a problem. Just Photoshop!

According to the website Buzzfeed, the black woman shown smiling up at Gov. Tom Corbett in the footer on his campaign site was borrowed from a stock photo array and grafted into the group shot. Corbett’s campaign said that the entire tableau is a mix of pictures of real people and stock photos, blended together through the magic of Photoshop.

Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer

First Lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday urged a crowd in Northwest Philadelphia to “step up today” and begin making phone calls and knocking on doors to elect Democrat Tom Wolf governor.

“If we truly want to finish what we started…if we want change in Pennsylvania, we need to take responsibility,” Mrs. Obama said at a rally with several hundred people at the Dorothy Emanuel Recreation Center in East Mount Airy.

Her visit, less than three weeks before the Nov. 4 election, was designed to help build some excitement in an area where Wolf needs good numbers from in order to win. Campaign workers with clipboards signed up attendees for volunteer shifts.

Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer

Democrat Tom Wolf is swamping Gov. Tom Corbett (R) nearly 3 to 1 on television sets across Pennsylvania this week, according to tracking reports of the campaigns’ purchase of advertising time.

If that continues, it may become difficult for Corbett to take advantage of what polls show is a solidifying GOP base and begin to eat into Wolf’s double-digit lead. (The latest available campaign-finance reports showed that the challenger ended September with a $1.7 million cash advantage over the governor.)

“It’s an article of faith in Pennsylvania politics that if the Democrat can spend evenly with a Republican in a Senate or governor’s race, they’re likely to win given the registration advantage,” said lawyer Shanin Specter, a key strategist in the campaigns of his late father, Sen. Arlen Specter, the Republican-turned-Democrat.